Computer system airflow-guiding device

ABSTRACT

An airflow-guiding device for being mounted into a computer system to periodically change airflow passing therethrough, comprises a motor, a gearing driven by the motor and a plurality of airflow-guiding plates pivoted to a frame and linked to the gearing and driven thereby to turn back and forth periodically. The gearing comprises a cam driven by the motor and a sliding board slideably mounted on a supporting member. The sliding board has a lateral side always in contact with the cam so that when the cam rotates, the sliding plate slides on the supporting member. The airflow-guiding plates each have a linking rod linked to the sliding board. The airflow-guiding plates periodically turn within a given angle following the rotation of the cam so as to change direction of airflow passing through the airflow-guiding plates.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an airflow-guiding device, and more particularly to a computer system airflow-guiding device.

2. Description of Related Art

Rapid development of computer technology has rendered the problem of heat generation more serious. Central processing unit (CPU), as the core of a computer, is generating more and more heat, and, accordingly, the heat sink for dissipating the heat from the CPU is larger and larger. Besides CPU, other electronic devices in the computer, such as south-bridge chipset, north-bridge chipset, VGA card chipset and so on, are also generating more and more heat during their operation, which also needs to be cooled. On the other hand, minimization is a trend of computer innovation. An inner space of a computer system is getting smaller and smaller. The heat sink mounted on the CPU has occupied a sizeable space. Mounting of heat sinks to the other heat generating electronic devices is difficult and not preferred, since these heat sinks hinder a smooth flow of a system airflow through the computer system. The major heat-generating electronic components, except for the CPU in the computer system, are entirely cooled by the system airflow provided by a system fan which is generally mounted to the backside of the computer. It is desired that the system airflow can flow through every heat-generating electronic components in the computer system, including the CPU.

Referring to FIG. 8, an airflow path in a computer 200 is illustrated schematically. Limited to the immobile location of outlet of a system fan 100, a system airflow generated by the system fan 100 can only move within a narrow region in line with the fan 100 to directly cooling electronic devices within the region. Other electronic devices out of the region can merely be cooled by the system airflow rebounding from a wall of the computer 200 toward an outlet 201 of the computer 200. A satisfactory heat dissipation effect cannot be obtained by the conventional design. Especially, a region in a corner of the computer, for example, region D, which is far away from said narrow region, is a dead region to the system airflow. Electronic elements in this region D cannot be cooled timely and effectively by the system airflow, whereby this region D usually can only be designed to accommodate electronic element without heat generation, which enormously affects design flexibility of electronic components in the computer 200.

Therefore, it is desired to develop an airflow-guiding device to overcome above-mentioned problems.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, what is needed is an airflow-guiding device used in a computer system for changing direction of system airflow automatically and periodically so as to increase covered regions of the system airflow in the computer system.

An airflow-guiding device for being mounted into a computer system to periodically change direction of airflow passing therethrough, comprises a motor, a gearing driven by the motor and a plurality of airflow-guiding plates linked to the gearing and driven thereby to turn back and forth periodically. The gearing comprises a cam driven by the motor and a sliding board always contacting with the cam and sliding to and fro in a line with the rotation of the cam. The airflow-guiding plates are pivotally connected to a frame and each have a portion linked to the sliding board. The airflow-guiding plates periodically turn within a given angle following the continuous rotation of the cam so as to change direction of airflow passing through the airflow-guiding plates.

Other advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an airflow-guiding device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the airflow-guiding device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of an airflow-guiding plate of the airflow-guiding device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the airflow-guiding device in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, with a frame being moved away, showing paths of airflow passing through the airflow-guiding device;

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4, showing paths of airflow passing through the airflow-guiding device when the airflow-guiding plates turn to a first ultimate position;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 4, showing paths of airflow passing through the airflow-guiding device when the airflow-guiding plates turn to a second ultimate position;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing airflow paths in a computer system in which the airflow-guiding device of the present invention is mounted; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing airflow paths in a conventional computer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe a computer system airflow-guiding device 1 (FIG. 1) in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, the computer system airflow-guiding device 1 is for being mounted to an outlet of a system fan 100 of a computer system 300, such as personal computer, server, network station, to periodically change direction of a forced system airflow provided by the fan 100 into the computer system 300. The airflow is guided to periodically change its route and flows toward different directions so as to cover different regions of the computer system 300, thereby effectively cooling electronic devices at different places of the computer system 300.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the computer system airflow-guiding device 1 comprises a motor 10, a gearing 20 driven by the motor 10, and a plurality of airflow-guiding plates 90 linked to the gearing 20 and driven thereby to periodically turn back and forth within a given angle.

The motor 10 is generally a low-speeded mini-type motor having a long life-span and low noise.

The gearing 20 comprises an elongate rectangle soleplate 30 provided with two parallel ribs 31 extending along front and rear sides thereof. A cover board 40 having the substantially same dimension as the soleplate 30 is located on the soleplate 30. The cover board 40 and the soleplate 30 are fixedly connected to each other by pins (not labeled) formed on the cover board 40 fitted into holes (not labeled) defined in the soleplate 30. A rectangle opening 41 is defined in the cover plate 40. The motor 10 is mounted onto a lateral side of the cover board 40 and adjacent to an end of the opening 41. A cam 50 is pivotally disposed between the soleplate 30 and the cover board 40, and driven by the motor 10 to rotate on a plane parallel to the soleplate 30 and the cover board 40 and around a same axis with the motor 10. The cam 50 has such a contour that a distance from the contour to the axis is continuously varied. A sliding board 60 is slideably mounted between the cover board 40 and the soleplate 30, and has one lateral end in constant contact with the cam 50. An extension rod 62 extends from another lateral end of the siding board 60. The extension rod 62 forms a step (not labeled) pushed by a spring 70 toward the cam 50 and a slender portion (not labeled) extending from the step into the spring 70. The spring 70 pushes the sliding board 60 toward the cam 50 and makes them always contact with each other. Thus, continuous rotation of the cam 50 causes the sliding board 60 to reciprocate on the soleplate 30.

To minimize resistance of movement of the sliding board 60 on the soleplate 30, three pairs of rollers 64 are formed on front and rear sides of the sliding board 60. The rollers 64 are supported by the ribs 31 of the soleplate 30 so as to make the sliding board 60 move smoothly relative to the soleplate 30. On the other hand, each of the rollers 64 is provided with an enlarged head 641 engaging with an outer edge of a corresponding rib 31 to prevent the sliding board 60 from disengagement with the soleplate 30 and the cam 50, and from deviating from a predetermined sliding track. The sliding board 60 defines a plurality of elongate slots 66 arrayed along an extension direction of the sliding board 60 with each slot 66 extending perpendicularly to the extension and sliding direction of the sliding board 60. In other words, each slot 66 extends along a direction from front to rear sides of the sliding board 60.

An erect rectangle frame 80 is located above and fixed to the cover board 40. The frame 80 comprises a bottom wall 82 fixed to the cover board 40, a top wall 81 opposite to and parallel to the bottom wall 82, and a pair of parallel sidewalls 83, 84 located between and perpendicular to the top and bottom walls 81, 82. The four walls 81, 82, 83, 84 connect each other to form the frame 80 and define a ventilating opening (not labeled) between the four walls 81, 82, 83, 84.

Referring to FIG. 3, the airflow-guiding plate 90 has an erect rectangle configuration, and a number of the airflow-guiding plate 90 equals to that of the elongate slots 66 in the sliding board 60. In this embodiment, there are five airflow-guiding plates 90 and five slots 66. A pair of studs 91, 92 extend from a middle of top and bottom sides of the airflow-guiding plate 90, respectively, and are in alignment with each other. Each airflow-guiding plate 90 further forms a linking rod 93 extending downwardly from a rear of the bottom side of the airflow-guiding plate 90, parallel to the bottom stud 92. The airflow-guiding plates 90 are arranged in the opening of the frame 80. The top stud 91 extends into a hole (not labeled) defined in the top wall 81 and the bottom stud 92 extends into a hole (not labeled) defined in the bottom wall 82 so that the airflow-guiding plate 90 can rotate in the frame 80 around an axis defined by the studs 91, 92. The linking rods 93 extend downwardly from a rear side of the bottom wall 82 beyond the bottom wall 82, through the opening 41 of the cover board 40, and into the elongate slots 66 in the sliding board 60, respectively. Under this arrangement, when the sliding board 60 slides to a given position, the airflow-guiding plates 90 are positioned at a corresponding orientation. To minimize resistance of airflow through the airflow-guiding plates 90, each airflow-guiding plate 90 has a sharpened front edge from the top to the bottom sides of the airflow-guiding plate 90. The sharpened front edge is located far away from the linking rod 93.

The computer system airflow-guiding device 1 operates as follows:

Referring to FIGS. 4-7, the airflow-guiding device 1 is mounted to the outlet of the system fan 100 in the computer system 300. In this embodiment, the fan 100 is mounted to a rear sidewall of the computer system 300 and the airflow-guiding device 1 is mounted in front of the fan 100. When the motor 10 operates, the cam 50 is driven to continuously rotate, which consequently renders the sliding board 60 to slide back and forth on the soleplate 30, meanwhile, the rollers 64 rotate on the ribs 31 of the soleplate 30. The linking rods 93 of the airflow-guiding plates 90 move in the slots 66 of the sliding board 60 while the studs 91, 92 of the airflow-guiding plates 90 pivot respective to the frame 80. As a result, the airflow-guiding plates 90 turn back and fro with a predetermined angle. When the airflow provided by the fan 100 passes through the airflow-guiding plates 90, it is periodically guided to flow toward different directions. As shown in FIG. 5, when the sliding board 60 is driven by the cam 50 and the spring 70 to a right side of the soleplate 30, the airflow-guiding plates 90 rotate to an orientation that the airflow generated by the fan 100 is guided to flow forwardly leftwards. As shown in FIG. 6, when the sliding board 60 is driven to a left side of the soleplate 30, the airflow generated by the fan 100 is guided by the airflow-guiding plates 90 to flow forwardly rightwards.

Particularly referring to FIGS. 4 and 7, the airflow directly reaches a region marked “A” to effectively cooling the electronic devices (not shown) within the region “A” when the air-flow guiding plates 90 are oriented to be aligned with the inflow direction of the system airflow generated by the fan 100. Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7, the airflow-guiding plates 90 are turned to be oriented forwardly leftwards (first ultimate position); accordingly, the airflow passing through the airflow-guiding plates 90 is deflected to blow toward a different direction, and reaches a region “B” marked in FIG. 7. Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the airflow guiding plates 90 are turned to be oriented forwardly rightwards (second ultimate position); accordingly, the airflow passing through the airflow-guiding plates 90 is deflected toward another different direction, and reaches a region “C” marked in FIG. 7.

The continuous rotation of the cam 50 driven by the motor 10 renders the airflow-guiding plates 90 to turn to and fro within a given angle determined by the first ultimate position and the second ultimate position; the airflow passing through the airflow-guiding device 1 is deflected to periodically change its direction and reach different regions. As a result, more electronic devices in the computer system 300 can be directly and effectively cooled by the fan 100.

It is believed that the present invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the invention. 

1. An air flow guiding device for a computer system comprising: a motor; a gearing comprising a plate cam driven by the motor; a soleplate oriented perpendicularly to the airflow-guiding plates; a sliding board parallelly mounted on a top surface of the soleplate and constantly contacting with an outer profile of the cam, wherein the sliding board is driven by the cam to slide on the top surface of the soleplate; and a plurality of airflow-guiding plates linked to and driven by the gearing sliding board to turn back and forth periodically.
 2. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 1, wherein the airflow-guiding plates are spaced and parallel to each other.
 3. (canceled)
 4. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 1, wherein the sliding board is pushed to contact with the cam by a spring.
 5. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 4, wherein an extension rod extends from the sliding board and is pushed by the spring.
 6. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 1, wherein the soleplate comprises two ribs for supporting the sliding board to slide thereon.
 7. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 6, wherein the sliding board is provided with a plurality of roller at opposite sides thereof, and the rollers are supported on the ribs of the soleplate and adopted to slide relative to the soleplate along the ribs.
 8. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 7, wherein the gearing further comprises a cover board on the soleplate, and the cam and the sliding plate are accommodated between the cover board and the soleplate.
 9. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 1, further comprising a frame mounted to the gearing, each of the airflow-guiding plates forms a pair of studs pivoted to the frame.
 10. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 9, wherein the sliding plate defines a plurality of elongated slots having a number corresponding to a number of the airflow-guiding plates, each air guiding plate forms a linking rod which is received in a corresponding slot and sliding therein when the each airflow-guiding plate rotates,
 11. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 3, wherein the cam rotates around a same axis as the motor.
 12. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 10, wherein the cover board defines an opening for the linking rods to extend therethrough into the slots of the sliding board.
 13. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 7, wherein the rollers each form an enlarged head at an outer end thereof, the enlarged heads of the rollers engaging with opposite sides of the soleplate to prevent the sliding board from disengagement with the soleplate.
 14. A ventilating device for a computer system comprising: a motor; a gearing comprising a cam driven by the motor to rotate around an axis, a sliding board engaged with the cam and sliding to and fro; a plurality of airflow-guiding plates pivoted to a frame, each airflow-guiding plate having a portion extending into the sliding board; and a fan positioned adjacent to the airflow-guiding plates for providing a forced airflow passing through the airflow-guiding plates; wherein a rotation of the cam by the driving of the motor causes the sliding board to slide to and fro and the airflow-guiding plates to rotate so as to change direction of the airflow after passing the airflow-guiding plates; wherein a linking rod is formed from each of the airflow-guiding plates and extends into the sliding board, and wherein when the sliding board slides between a first position where the sliding board is close to the axis of the cam and a second position where the sliding board is distant from the axis, the linking rod moves relative to the sliding plate in the sliding 1late along a direction which is perpendicular to the sliding direction of the sliding plate.
 15. (canceled)
 16. The ventilating device as described in claim 14, wherein a plurality of slots is defined in the sliding board in which the linking rods slide.
 17. The ventilating device as described in claim 14, wherein the airflow-guiding plates are parallel to each other during the sliding of the sliding board.
 18. The ventilating device as described in claim 14, wherein the airflow is guided to a first direction while the sliding board reaches the first position and the airflow is guided to a second direction different from the first direction while the sliding board reaches the second position.
 19. (canceled)
 20. An air flow guiding device for changing flow direction of an airflow in a computer, said airflow being generated by a fan of the computer, the air flow guiding device comprising: a soleplate; a sliding plate mounted on the soleplate and being slideable relative to the soleplate between first and second positions; a cover board mounted on the soleplate above the sliding board; a frame having a plurality of airflow-guiding plates pivotably mounted thereon, each of the guiding plates having a linking rod extending through the cover board and in the sliding plate; wherein when the sliding plate slides to the first position, the airflow-guiding plates are oriented to a first direction and when the sliding plates slides to the second position, the airflow-guiding plates are oriented to a second direction different from the first direction so that the airflow can change direction when the airflow flows through the airflow-guiding plates.
 21. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 1, wherein the sliding board moves relative to the soleplate along a line parallel to the top surface of the soleplate.
 22. The airflow-guiding device as described in claim 1, wherein each of the airflow-guiding plates has a sharpened front edge from a top to a bottom side of the each of the airflow-guiding plates.
 23. The air flow guiding device as described in claim 20, further comprising a motor mounted on the cover board, the motor enabling the sliding board to slide relative to the soleplate between the first position and the second position. 